In vain from the beginning of thefe infurrections did a certain party attempt to fix the body of Roman Catholics with the treafon and difloyalty attending them. The plain truth is, that thefe oppreffed wretches being too ignorant to know the law, and too poor to bear the expence of it, betook themselves to violence as to their only refource. Fatal experience teaches us that mobs feldom rife, till they have fuffered fome grievance; and feldomer difperfe till they have occafioned great mischief. The very occafion, which fuch rifings afford to private, and fecret, and generally unwarrantable engagements with each other, is one of the moft pernicious evils, that can befal fociety. Linked by common ties, they acquire gregarian firmness, but feldom coalefce upon a specific ground of grievance. Yet whilft these White Boys continued to exift, they were generally confiftent in the nature of their complaints; of which however the loudeft and moft lafting were against the extortions of the tithe proctors; the landlords and graziers, in order to divert the irritation of this wretched and oppreffed peasantry from themselves, did not fcruple to cherish, or at least connive at their refiftance to the ever honourably acquitted; too late, however, to be of any service to Mr. Sheehy, who had been hanged and quartered fome time before Mr. Keating's acquittal. The very fame evidence, which was looked upon at Clonmell as good and fufficient to condemn Mr. Sheehy, having been afterwards rejected at Kilkenny, as prevaricating and contradictory, when offered against Mr. Keating. James Prendergast, Efq. a Proteftant of the established church, a witnefs for Mr. Edmund Sheehy, depofed, that on the day and hour on which the murder of Bridge was fworn to have been committed, viz. about or between the hours of ten and eleven o'clock on the night of the 28th of October, 1764, Edmund Sheehy, the prifoner, was with him and others in a diftant part of the country; that they and their wives had on the aforefaid 28th of October, dined at the house of Mr. Tenifon, near Ardfinan, in the county of Tipperary, where they continued till after fupper; that it was about eleven o'clock when he and the prifoner left the house of Mr. Tenifon, and rode a confiderable way together on their return to their respective homes; that the prisoner had his wife behind him, that when he (Mr. Prendergaft) got home, he looked at the clock, and found it was the hour of twelve exactly. This teftimony was confirmed by feveral corroborating circumftances, fworn to by two other witneffes, against whom no exception feems to have been taken and yet because Mr. Tenifon, although he confeffed in his depofition, that the prifoner had dined with him in October 1764, and does not exprefsly deny, that it was on the 28th of that month, but fays, conjecturally, that he was inclined to think that it was earlier than the 28th, the prifoner was brought in guilty. This pofitive and particular proof, produced by Mr. Prendergaft, with the circumftances of the day and the hour, attefted upon oath by two other witneffes, whofe veracity feems not to have been queftioned, was overruled and fet afide, by the vague and indeterminate furmife of Mr. Tenifon. See Exfhaw's, Gentleman's, and London Magazine, for April and June, 1766. : unpopular unpopular demands of the clergy. This fuffering and mifguided people bound themselves to each other by an oath.* The public mind was much agitated by these proceedings, and many undue means were used to exaggerate the evil, and convert it into a Popish plot to overturn the government, to maffacre the Proteftants, and to favour our enemies in their dreaded invasion. Acts of popular outrage are committed generally by the lower order of the people; and as that order principally confifts in this kingdom of Roman Catholics, it was in fome respect a natural confequence to attribute the mifdemeanours of the Southern infurgents, indifcriminately, to perfons of that perfuafion. The Houfe of Commons therefore appinted a committee "to enquire into the caufes and progress of (what was termed) the Popish infurrection in the province of Munster." †On the 23d of January, 1762, Mr. Hamilton, secretary to Lord Halifax, communicated to the Houfe of Commons the meffage from the lord lieutenant, by which he informed them, that he had it in command from his majefty, that after the most conciliatory efforts which his majesty's moderation could dictate, or his royal dignity permit, affairs had been brought to an unhappy, though on his fide inevitable, rupture with the court of Spain: that in confequence his majesty had directed an immediate augmentation of five battalions to the establishment, which would render fome further fupplies unavoidably neceffary beyond those which they had already fo liberally granted. And although in this addrefs to parliament there be an exclufive and par Of which the following is faid to have been the form, and which the most wilful traducer of the Irish cannot distort into any engagement to the Pope, French, or Pretender : "I do hereby folemnly and fincerely fwear, that I will not make known any fecret now given me, or that hereafter may be given me, to any one in the world, except a fworn person belonging "to the fociety called White Boys, or otherwife-Sive Ultagh's Children. "Furthermore I swear, that I will be ready at an hour's warning, if poffible, being properly "summoned by any of the officers, ferjeants, or corporals belonging to my company. "Furthermore I fwear, that I will not wrong any of the company I belong to, of the value of one fhilling; nor fuffer it to be done by others, without acquainting them thereof. "Furthermore I swear, I will not make known, in any shape whatever, to any person that "does not belong to us, the name or names of any of our fraternity, but particularly the names of our refpective officers. Lastly I fwear, that I will not drink of any liquor whatsoever, whilft on duty, without the con"fent of one or other of the officers, ferjeants, or corporals; and that we will be loyal to one ano"ther as far as in our power lies." + 8 Journ. Com. p. 136. ticular ticular application to his majesty's Proteftant fubjects of Ireland, it was not as before had been the usual stile of the caftle, to call upon them to make head againft, to refift, or punish the common enemy; but as none but Proteftants were members of the houfe which he was then addreffing, and none but they could affect the revenue, his majefty having in all exigencies the moft full and firm reliance on the experienced affection and loyalty of his faithful Protestant fubjects of Ireland, entertained no doubt that they would concur with their ufual chearfulness and unanimity in raifing the additional fupplies. The commons immediately refolved on an addrefs of thanks to the lord lieutenant, to return thanks for the very important communications he had been pleased to make them; and to affure his excellency of the entire fatisfaction which they had received from his prudent and just administration, during the courfe of which he had fully maintained the dignity of the crown, and at the fame time gained the affection and esteem of the whole kingdom.* In confequence of this meffage, the augmentation was accordingly ordered, and another vote of credit paffed for the raising of 500,000l. at five per cent. The Houfe of Commons alfo fhortly after refolved, that an addrefs fhould be prefented to the lord lieutenant, requesting that he would reprefent to his majefty the fenfe of that houfe, that the entertainments and appointments of the lord lieutenant of Ireland had become inadequate to the dignity of that high station, and that it was the humble defire of that houfe that his majesty would be pleased to grant fuch an augmentation to the entertainments of the lord lieutenant for the time being, as, with the then allowances, fhould in the whole amount to the annual sum of 16,000l. which meafure was alfo effected. At the close of the feffion of 1762, Lord Halifax, in his fpeech to the parliament, thus alluded to the infurrections of the White Boys: "I muft with "concern obferve, that notwithstanding the exemplary behaviour of all "ranks of people in this metropolis, and throughout the greatest part of this kingdom, fome diftant quarters of the country have been unhappily dif "turbed with tumults and riots of the lower fort of people. I have on this occafion been reluctantly obliged to call out the military power, which is 66 *This would not have been the language of the commons, had there then in reality existed a Popish confpiracy against the government of the country, as the malevolent party was endeavouring to make the public believe. +7 Journ. Com. p. 173. X X "fometimes "fometimes the neceffary, but ought always to be the last resource of go"vernment. The officers ordered on that fervice have executed their duty "with activity and difcretion. These tumults are, I hope, wholly fuppreffed. Many of the perfons concerned in them are in cuftody, and await the pu"nifhment of their offences. Others are fled from juftice, and feem to "want only an occafion of returning to their refpective habitations with 'impunity." Amongst the various duties of the hiftorian, it is not the laft or leaft, to point out the fources of diforders, as the best and most efficient antidotes aud remedies againft their repetition. Although the White Boys were generally fuppreffed, yet the spirit of infurrection was not eradicated: the roots of the evil had fpread wider than the province of Munfter; for elsewhere alfo the lower orders were wretched, oppreffed, and impoverished. As one infurrection has frequently proved to be an encouragement or prelude to another, fo Ireland was foon after disturbed by rifings in other parts, but grounded on different principles; Oak Boys and Hearts of Steel Boys made their appearance fucceffively, in the northern countries. ment. The highways in Ireland were formerly made and repaired by the labour of houfekeepers. He who had a horfe, was obliged to work fix days in the year; himself and horfe: he who had none, was to give fix days labour. It had been long complained, that the poor alone were compelled to work; that the rich had been exempt; that instead of mending the public roads, the fweat of their brows was wafted on private roads, useful only to overfeers. At length in the years 1763 and 1764, they fhewed their resentIn the most populous, manufacturing, and confequently civilized part of the province of Ulfter, the inhabitants of one parish refused to make more of what they called job-roads. They rofe almoft to a man, and from the oaken branches, which they wore in their hats, were denominated Oak Boys. The difcontent being as general as the grievance, the contagion feized the neighbouring parishes: from parishes it flew to baronies, and from baronies to counties, till at length the greater part of the province was engaged. The many-headed monster (as Dr. Campbell obferves) being now roufed, did not know where to ftop, but began a general redrefs of grievances, whether real or imaginary. Their firft object was the overfeers of roads; the fecond the clergy, whom they refolved to curtail of their tythes; the third was the landlords, the price of whofe lands (particularly the turf bogs) they fet about about regulating. They had feveral inferior objects, which only difcovered the phrenzy of insurrection. The army was hereupon collected from the other provinces; for till then the province of Ulfter was deemed fo peaceful, that fcarcely any troops were quartered in it. The rabble was foon difperfed, with the lofs of a few lives; and the tumult was to appearance quelled in a few weeks. In the enfuing feffion of parliament, the matter was taken into confideration; the old act was repealed, and provifion made for the future repairs of the roads, by levying a tax on both rich and poor. The cause of the discontent being thus happily removed, peace and quiet returned to their former channels. The rifing of the Steel Boys was not fo general, but it was more violent, as proceeding from a more particularly interefting caufe;-the fource of it was this: An absentee nobleman, poffeffed of one of the largest estates in the kingdom, instead of letting it when out of leafe, for the highest rent, adopted a novel mode, of taking large fines and fmall rents. The occupier of the ground, though willing to give the highest rent, was unable to pay the fines; and therefore difpoffeffed by the wealthy undertaker, who not contented with a moderate intereft for his money, racked the rents to a pitch above the reach of the old tenant. Upon this the people rose against foreftallers, deftroying their houfes, and maiming their cattle, which now occupied their former farms. When thus driven to acts of defperation, they knew not how to confine themselves to their original object, but became like the Oak Boys, general reformers. The army however foon fubdued them, and fome who were made prifoners, having fuffered by the hands of the executioner, the country was restored to its priftine tranquillity. Both thefe infurrections being in the north, the moft opulent, populous, and civilized part of the kingdom, we may observe have no fimilitude to that of the White Boys in the fouth, either in their causes or in their effects, except in the general idea of oppreffion. The cause which generated the one being removed, and that of the other being only temporary, the duration of neither was long: the rife and fall of each was like that of a mountain river, which fwelled by a broken cloud, at once overwhelms all around, and then fhrinks down as fuddenly into its accuftomed bed. The government of Lord Halifax ended with the feffion of 1762: this |